Warmer weather is finally here, maybe not today, but coastal home owners are ready to begin spending more time outside enjoying the shore. This month we are featuring an article about a very steep stairway that leads to the "heavenly" Truro beach. We enjoyed the challenge of building this stairway and hope you will enjoy reading about it. By the way, who remembers that great Led Zeppelin song referred to in our newsletter title? I suspect it will only be only those of us of a certain age!

We hope you find this month's beach notes interesting and, we say it every month, please call if you have any questions or feedback!

Last fall NETCO began a coastal bank staircase project in Truro and, after a long winter layoff, the staircase is complete. We think this design may be a prototype for staircases on steep and eroding coastal banks in the future.

The Town of Truro Conservation Commission reviewed the potential for erosion in the area of the coastal stair structure and came to the conclusion that the coastal bank area was experiencing an increased rate of erosion. The Commission was concerned that the erosion would cause the stairs to become unstable and unsafe...

The Oak Bluffs Citizens Beach Committee was formed to advocate for attractive, high quality beaches and, in so doing, to represent human and economic needs. The Oak Bluffs conservation commission represents the ecologically important aspects of the beaches. To achieve the best outcome, these differing interests need to be compatible... Read More

America's coastal cities are global centers of innovation, output, employment, and trade. The communities built around the country's beaches and working harbors capitalize on marine natural resources to promote fishing, tourism, aquaculture, and other industries... Read More

Going by present trends of melting land ice and simulations of events million of years ago, experts do not rule out three metres or more of sea level rise by end of the century, unless emissions are tightly controlled...Read More

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, a US Court of Federal Claims judge has ruled that the federal government was not only partly responsible for the flooding, but that the flooding constituted a "temporary taking of property." She ordered the government to pay damages to the plaintiffs... Read More

Warming water and melting land ice have raised global mean sea level 4.5 centimeters (1.7 inches) from 1993 to 2008. But the rise is by no means uniform. This image, created with sea surface height data from the Topex/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellites, shows exactly where sea level has changed during this time and how quickly these changes have occurred... Read More